Logan is in a lot of pain but otherwise in great spirits.  We are trying to control pain as much as possible to make him comfortable.  The area that hurts the most is where they placed the port.  As you can see by the above picture they made small incision and placed under his skin about 1 inch below.  Once the skin scars/heals around it it should feel better.  The purpose of the port is when they do need to give him medicine, draw blood in the future they will access that vs. sticking him with needled all the time.

He was up a lot last night as he can only really sleep on his back.  He has the 2 incisions on his hip bones where they did bone biopsy's as well as incision in his left hip where they actually went in and took some bone out to send to labs for testing.  I went and kissed his forehead before I left for work this morning and kneed him in this area...he let me know about it:(.

He is an amazing young man and a hero to many!

We are home!  What a long day.  Logan as expected did awesome and still has his arm;)!  This weekend will be spent just laying around and watching a lot of movies.  His Papa & Nana are coming from upstate NY on Saturday.  Logan is very excited to see them.

We learned today that we do have somewhat direction of what we will be doing next.  Kelly is going to take leave from her job.  Unfortunately I  have been at mine less than 12 months so I do not qualify for certain leave benefits.  However my co-workers/boss/friends have been amazing supporting us.

Thank you!

Jason, Kelly, Logan, & Peyton

Logan is in surgery as I type this.  He is doing amazing!  The kid is so strong.  He has been joking around this morning.  He was a little nervous when I said goodbye to him as he walked in the the OR room but laughed when I yelled "hope they don't cut off your arm!"  

We met with Dr. Julie Park this morning.  She is his Neuroblastoma doctor who has overseen his treatment from day 1.  We discussed different treatment options with her.  Logan was in the room and was included in all conversation.  We really liked how much she involved him in the decision making.

So what's next....it sounds like he will start some sort of chemo treatment the week of August 3rd...It will be an early 15 year anniversary celebration of our August 5th wedding anniversary;).  The early goal of all treatment is to knockdown/slowdown the progression of his cancer.  Once he responds to this then phase 2 is to rid him of cancer.

We are are being asked a lot where is his cancer.  It is basically all over....it's not something they can surgically remove.  The surgery today is to get a piece of his femur bone to send to a lab to see what chemo he needs.  They will also be doing a bone marrow biopsy on both hips and placing a port in his chest.  The purpose of the port is so when he gets medicine at a later date they do not need to constantly stick him with needles.  They just access the port.

Thank you all for your continued thoughts and prayers....the power of our friends & family has really helped us.  One day at a time!

Jason & Kelly

Late last night we got the news we did not want to hear.  Logan has relapsed.  This morning we are heading up to Seattle Children's hospital to meet with his doctor to discuss options.

We are heartbroken.

Above is a picture of the Logan's left hip area that is of concern.  You can see the inflammation and difference between the bone in the right hip.

Long Day for Logan & Mom

Kelly & Logan ventured north to Seattle about 11:30 am and did not get home until 6 pm.  They only had 2 appointments.  First appointment was at 2 pm and was a quick injection of some nuclear substance into Logan.  Yes it is literally a radioactive substance called a tracer and when they do the MIBG tomorrow it will light any Nueroblastoma cancer like a Christmas tree.  The nurse unfortunately was having trouble starting the IV and blood was going everywhere.  Logan was not to happy about that. The next appointment was supposed to be at 3:40 pm but doctor was finishing casting another child so did not get to them until about 4:30 pm.  

We found a little more about Thursday's surgery.  It actually will be an out patient surgery which we were VERY glad to hear.  The doctor described the area around his left hip and femur as not a mass but more of liquid in the bones.  So what she will be doing is drilling a hole into his bone to drain liquid as well as test marrow.  He will be on crutches for 2 weeks because bone will be weak and a fall could break it.  Logan is actually excited to be on crutches....thinks it's cool.

So tomorrow Logan, little brother Peyton, and I go up for a 2:30 pm MIBG scan hopefully that will show NO Nueroblastoma.

(picture above is them staying busy between appointments)

Thank you all for your continued thoughts and prayers.

Time to fire back up the Blog.....

First of all thank you to all of our family and friends for your support and kind words this past 10+ days.  We are thankful and overwhelmed with support.  We feel starting up the blog again will help keep everyone updated with Logan's symptoms.  

About 3 weeks ago Logan started limping.  He said his groin/hip hurt.  Kelly and I initially thought he had hurt it running and/or on a friends trampoline.  As a precaution Kelly took him to his local pediatrician and they did some blood work and agreed that he most likely had a groin pull and gave him some exercises to work on.  We also notified his survivor nurse at Seattle Children's Hospital. She asked if the local pediatrician ordered additional blood work to show any unusual triggers for tumors.  They had not.  I took Logan in to get more blood drawn.  The results would not be back for 10 days.  His survivor nurse also recommended an x-ray of his hip/knee.  We finally got what we thought was great news....the x-ray showed possible groin tear (most parents would not celebrate this news;)).  We enjoyed our weekend with family and friends.  On Monday his survivor nurse called me and said she had an additional doctor look at the x-ray and just to be safe wanted to do an MRI as well.  That Tuesday July 7th he had his MRI at 2 pm.  Just before 5 that night I received a call from his Neuroblastoma doctor, Julie Park, who I had not spoken with in many years.  My heart sank.  She said they were very concerned about a mass on Logan's hip area and wanted to schedule surgery to do a biopsy as well as more testing to see if he had possibly relapsed with Neuroblastoma.  We spoke with Logan that night and of course he was very concerned and had a bit of anxiety (as we all did).  He was supposed to leave the next day on a 7 day east coast trip to Boston, NY, and DC.  Kelly, Peyton, & I  were heading to Lake Chelan with friends.  After talking with Logan he decided not to go back east but to come to Lake Chelan with us (Kelly & I were so thankful).  

Lake Chelan was a great distraction...sort of.  While there we received more troubling news regarding his blood work regarding tumors.  It was unusually high.  

So that takes us to today/this upcoming week.  Logan will be up at Seattle Children s Hospital Tuesday/Wednesday for an MIBG test (this test will show if Neuroblastoma is present).  On Thursday he will undergo surgery to do a biopsy on the mass/tumor n his left hip area.

I will once again work on keeping everyone updated via this blog.

This is another chapter in Logan's fight.  He is an amazingly strong teenager and we have no doubt that he will once again prevail and come out even stronger in the end of all this.

Thank you all so much for your continued thoughts and prayers.

Please hug your kids tonight....

Jason, Kelly, Logan, & Peyton

Great news this week!!! Logan completed all of his scans and he remains cancer free! Even better news....we never have to do testing again! Logan officially is in the survivor program now. This program will now watch for any possible long term side effects from all the harsh medicine he received. Thank you all for you continued thoughts and prayers.

The fight is not over....LETS FIND A CURE! Please put all your efforts to supporting the Ben Towne foundation. Kelly and I have were privileged to attend the latest benefit this past week. Click here to be directed to the foundations website.

Thank you!

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!!! 4TH GRADE!!!

Wow it's been a long time since I have updated (I know because my father-in-law reminds me all the time:)). Logan continues to do amazing! We have been very busy this summer....We bought a new camper so have been camping a lot, a week in Sunriver, OR and lots of swimming. Logan also did a week long baseball camp that focused on skills....he loved it.

We will be going in for what is deemed as his final check-up in September.....after that Logan will go in every six months as part of the survivor program. The team of doctors will then watch for possible long term side effects from all the harsh medicine he received.

Thank you all for your continued support and prayers!